


There's No Love Like Your Love

by bananapatch



Category: Arrested Development
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, M/M, Sibling Incest, Utter ridiculousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 04:05:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2454104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananapatch/pseuds/bananapatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gob finally convinces Michael to follow through on his promise to listen to Franklin Comes Alive.</p>
<p>Really just gratuitous fluff following the events of Righteous Brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's No Love Like Your Love

Michael Bluth was sitting in the living room, pouring over a mess of binders and papers he had scattered all over the coffee table, when his brother came waltzing in.

“What do you want, Gob?” he asked, barely masking his exasperation at the interruption and not bothering to look up from what he was doing.

Gob responded by plopping himself down on the couch next to Michael and throwing an arm around his shoulders, pulling him up against the side of his body. Michael still kept himself intently focused on the piece of paper he was scribbling notes onto. “Nothing much. I just uh...I thought maybe we could listen to my CD now?”

Michael's first instinct was to laugh in his face, because Gob could not have possibly chosen a worse time to bring this up. But there was a distinctly nervous quality to Gob's tone that got Michael's attention, who still felt a little guilty that he hadn't listened to the thing sooner. So instead, he opted to take a softer approach, finally turning his full attention to his brother and making an honest effort to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “Does it have to be now? I have a lot to do, I missed an entire day of work cleaning up after Dad and I have – ”

“But you promised, remember? Don't try to weasel out of it now just because you have a little 'work' to do.”

“I don't have a _little_ work to do, I have a lot of work to do, things that need to be done in order to keep the entire company from going under, and anyway I wouldn't even be so behind on everything in the first place if you hadn't gotten me thrown in jail – ” Michael stopped himself, pausing to take a deep breath. Gob had a point, he had promised to listen to it, and he intended to keep that promise. He also meant what he'd said at the courthouse about them needing to stick together. Whatever was on this CD was obviously important to his brother, it couldn't hurt to take a few minutes out of his life to do this one thing for him, and it certainly had to be better than fighting with him again. “Alright, alright. I'm sorry, you're right. I'll listen to it. 

A grin spread across Gob's face in record time and he leaped up from his spot, staring down at Michael expectantly. “Yeah! You're gonna love it, Mikey.”

Michael stared right back up at him and gestured with his hand in a way that was meant to say “Well?”

“Well come on, we have to go upstairs.”

Michael balked at the suggestion. “Upstairs? Why can't we listen down here?”  
  
Gob's expression twisted into the physical embodiment of a whine, his voice sounding high pitched and strained. “But...but I have everything set up upstairs. Please, can you just...?”

Seeing the eagerness and slight tinge of desperation on Gob's face, Michael couldn't bring himself to say no. “Okay, okay. Let's...go then.” He stood with a sigh and resisted the urge to pull away when his brother took him by the hand, allowing himself to be led through the house and up to the bedroom.

The room was a sight to behold, and Michael had to brace himself against the doorway for a moment as he took it all in with shock. Every available flat surface had been covered in candles, lighting the room in a softly flickering orange. He made his way through the room slowly, not quite believing what he was seeing. He stopped dead in his tracks when he got to the bed, which upon closer inspection he noticed had been covered in a layer of rose petals. His heart was somewhere in his throat and his stomach clenched and his face grew hot, and he had to sit down to keep himself from passing out. He perched himself on the very edge of the mattress, and after sucking in a few shallow breaths he finally found his voice, which came out shaky and laced with mild terror.

“You...you did all of this, Gob? For me?”

“Yeah! You like it?”  
  
“I...it's...it's nice, but...why? This must have...I mean this must have taken you forever. How did you even...”

“What, this? It took like a half an hour, no big deal. Just some candles and some flowers. I wanted to make sure you got the full experience.”

_Full experience? What is he talking about, full experience?_   “Full experience? What full experience? I thought this was just you singing with Franklin...”

“You'll see, Mikey.”

As Gob stepped away and fiddled with the stereo, Michael considered how intensely serious his brother had been when he'd brought up the topic of this CD back at the office. A few seconds later music began wafting through the air, Gob singing unevenly with Franklin doing the background vocals, and it took a moment for Michael to recognize the song.

“Really, Gob? ABBA?”

“What? This song is romantic!”

Michael was about to contest this point, or maybe ask why Gob wanted the song to be romantic in the first place, when he stopped for second and really paid attention to the lyrics.

_If you need me, let me know, gonna be around_  
 _If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down_  
 _If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown_  
 _Honey I'm still free_  
 _Take a chance on me_

Michael's heart skipped a beat as his mind flashed immediately back to what Gob had said earlier: _I tried to express something to you in a couple of those numbers._ At the time he hadn't really thought anything of it, simply chalked it up to his brother being overly dramatic as he was so prone to do. In all of his years of overly familiar touches and too-long embraces, Gob had never made an attempt to express his feelings in any real, meaningful way. It made it easy for Michael to sweep it all under the rug, to pretend it all came down to Gob not understanding boundaries, needing constant attention and validation. But now... Well, it was hard to deny what was completely surrounding him. Gob had obviously spent a lot of time on all of this, and put in more focus and effort into it than Michael could remember him doing with anything else in a long time. His attempt at choosing romantic songs, the candlelight, the roses...it all pointed to one thing, something that he had worked his ass off for years to deny, and a thought entered his head that he knew he'd never be able to unthink.

_Gob is really, actually in love with me._

He began to shake as his fight or flight instinct kicked in, and he was tempted to walk right out the door. He wanted to leave and get into the stair car and drive somewhere, anywhere, to get away from Gob and his undying love and dedication that scared Michael to his very core. Seeing it, hearing Gob's feelings being laid out so plainly in front of him was too much for him to handle. They were brothers, and Michael knew there was no possible way he could ever give Gob everything he wanted, every wonderful thing he knew his brother deserved. He was about to voice this, maybe even make a run for it, when he opened his eyes and saw him. Gob was in the middle of the room, swaying awkwardly, arms flailing out in front of him to the rhythm of the music, and Michael had to bite back what surely would have turned into a ridiculous grin.

“Gob, what are you...what on Earth are you even doing?”  
  
“I'm dancing! Come on Mikey, come join me!”  
  
“No, I'm not going to...to dance with you, that's – ” But Michael was interrupted by Gob taking his hand and yanking him up and off of the bed. He made a weak attempt to fight him off as his brother then grasped his other wrist, beginning to wave his hands wildly above his head in time with the song.

“Gob, Gob, stop.”

“Oh, lighten up, Michael. Let yourself have a little fun, for once.”

“Hey, I have fun, I have plenty of fun. But this – whatever this even _is_ – doesn't happen to be my idea of fun.”

Gob rolled his eyes and pulled Michael into him, ignoring his little brother's continued pleas for him to stop as he did so. Michael let out a disgruntled sigh as Gob wrapped his arms around him, holding him tightly against himself, and began moving once again to the beat.

“See, is this so bad?”  
  
Michael tried to respond but his voice was muffled by Gob's chest, which his face was now pressed firmly into. He took a deep breath and allowed himself to relax a little as the song changed to a slower one, and Gob's movements went from jerky and erratic to a gentle sway. Michael smiled slightly despite himself when he recognized the song that was playing, the same one that the cops had been listening to back in jail, the same one Gob had sung to him at the courthouse. He felt just as touched hearing it now as he had then, and his smile spread a little wider. His stress began to melt away as he let himself get lost in it all: the comforting warmth radiating from his brother, his off-key singing blaring from the speakers and throughout the room, the soft, intimate lighting; and couldn't help but admit to himself that Gob was being pretty damn charming. He adjusted his position in Gob's arms and rested his head against his shoulder as they continued to dance.

“You really do everything for me, Gob?”

His pulse sped up as he felt Gob pressing his lips lightly onto the top of his head, speaking quietly into his hair. “Of course I do. Who else would I do it for?”

Michael laughed quietly, almost imperceptibly, against the crook of his brother's neck. He pulled back the slightest bit, just enough that he could look into Gob's eyes, and before he could stop himself, before he could even process what he was saying, four words slipped from his mouth that he didn't think he'd ever let himself say out loud.

“I love you, Gob.”

Gob's grin faded as he met Michael's gaze with a fierce passion that nearly made his heart stop altogether, and for a split second everything around them faded away. All that existed were Gob's eyes and the deep love that shined in them, until Michael felt the soft press of his brother's lips against his own and it all became too much; everything exploded hot and red behind his eyelids as he felt them slip shut and the next thing he knew he was kissing back with equal fervor, clinging to his brother like he would fall through the ground beneath him if he didn't, and he knew then that nothing about their relationship would ever be the same.


End file.
